Twist and Turns
by AC Mae
Summary: Life throws many hardships at you. The people who mean the most are the ones who are there for you through it. Rated M for future chapters. Angelick
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There really aren't enough Angelick fics in existence so here is my contribution! This is going to span many years and outline many hardships. Rated M for future chapters.**

For most twelve year olds the carnival is a place of wonder, but to Patrick Jane it was just another arrangement of lights and sounds that his dad had dragged him to. Sooner or later he'd find himself in a new arrangement, never staying in one for too long. It was late May and the first week of this carnival's circuit, Patrick was scoping out his new home as he always did, trying to get a feel for the place.

He heard an elephant somewhere to his right, he looked towards it finding it in between tents. Not all carnivals had elephants, this was definitely a point in favor of this one. While admiring the elephant he felt a small human bump into his back. He spun around to find a girl about his age, maybe a tad younger, sprawled out on the ground. She shook her head, her dark braids flying everywhere, she quickly found a book on the ground next to her.

"Crap." she mumbled "I lost my page."

"Well..." He muttered as she frantically searched through the pages of her book. "Don't you think you owe someone an apology missy?"

She looked up at him annoyed. She was definitely another carnie by the fact that she was reading while at a carnival. He couldn't quite tell what her or her parents did, she was hard to read, but one thing was for sure; something had her panties in a bunch and he was definitely in the line of fire.

"Well Mr. Cheeky, maybe I was going to," She stood up and placed a hand on her not-yet-existent hip. "but now I don't think I will."

"C'mon." He said, she was certainly stubborn and that annoyed him. "We're gonna have to see each other all summer! Might as well try and get along."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're one of the new acts huh?"

"The Boy Wonder at your service." He did a little bow. To his annoyance she started laughing, he thought her laugh was cute but he definitely wasn't telling her that.

"Boy Wonder huh?" She laughed, "What do you do? Fight crime in scaley under-roos?"

"Actually I'm a psychic." He spat out. He was slightly embarrassed by her teasing and hoped it didn't show. "What do _you_ do?"

Her laughter died down and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're the psychic here aren't you? figure it out."

He studied her, he'd be damned if he let her get the last laugh. "You don't really have a set job do you?" Any trace of humor left her face and he could almost see her walls going up. "You usually just help out where you're needed, but you usually help out with the machinery. Not something that people your age usually do, but you've been around it your entire life."

"Alright show-off." She said, going back to her book. "There I was." She marked the page she found, and started to walk off.

"Where are _you_ going?" He said after her. "Are you just that impressed by me?"

"No, not at all." She yelled back. "_I_ just have places to be."

He knew that was a lie, she was in way too much of hurry for it to be the truth.

"C'mon baby," Her father urged. "You need to get out of this trailer anyway. It'll do you no good to stay cooped up here."

Angela buried her face in her pillow and groaned. She was not in the mood to go greet all the new acts they had this year. Especially after her earlier encounter with the Boy Wonder. She didn't want him prying into her business.

"I think I'm fine where I am." She said into her pillow.

"C'mon Annie!" Her brother said jumping on her bed next to her. "Aren't you bored staying in here all the time?"

She knew now that Danny was involved he wasn't going to leave her alone until she went. She groaned and hit him with her pillow.

"Fine." She mumbled getting up and following her father and brother out the door.

It didn't take long at all for her to find that they were headed toward the Boy Wonder tent. She scowled as soon as she saw it. She knew his type, he was way too good at finding things out about people and pried into every nook and cranny they could. _Boy-Full-of-Himself better mind his own business_ she thought as she walked through the flap, people talked enough about what happened in April and she was sick of it.

"Mr. Jane, right?" Her father walked in greeting a slimy looking man that Angela assumed was Patrick's father. "I'm David Ruskin, and this is Angela and Danny."

She gave her most obedient smile before tuning out the introductions and business talk as she usually did.

It wasn't long before the blond she ran into earlier came walking into the area they were in. They almost seemed to make the exact same face at each other.

"Hey, Paddy." His father called to him. "This is the owner of this carnival, say hello."

"Hello, sir." He said to her father and much to her displeasure she could almost already see him winning her father over.

"Looks like you're about Angela's age! She needs more friends that aren't adults." Her father was a little too excited about that and she made another face.

He patted him on the shoulder and returned to discussing business with Mr. Jane. She didn't like how Patrick was studying them.

"You've lost someone recently haven't you?" He said finally. _There it is_ she thought. She just knew he was going to dig that up. She turned quickly and walked out, ignoring her father yelling after her. April was not something she even liked to think about, let alone talk about


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I have a habit of writing short chapters don't I? I probably should have lumped this one in with the last one. Oh well, I'll try to make future chapters longer.**

Shortly after Angela had stormed out, her father had quickly said his goodbyes and went after her. Patrick now alone with his father had hell to pay for trying to read the boss. It had been a week since then and they kept running into each other. Angela was always quick to scowl and quickly turn the other way, but Patrick had actually grown intrigued by her. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that her mother had died recently, given by the fact that while she may have been difficult to read, her father and brother were not, and the apparent lack of a mother she seemed to have.

He noticed the very girl he was thinking of talking to a familiar recognized her quickly as a girl that was at one of his shows today, he pretended to talk to her dead Grandpa. He hung back wondering what she was talking to a local about until their conversation ended and the girl left.

"So what were you talking about?" He walked up next to her. Much to his pleasure she didn't automatically leave as she usually did, though she did make her usual face.

"I know... that you didn't actually talk to that girl's grandpa." She played with her braids. "But do you think maybe it is possible to talk to the dead?"

"What? You wanna try and talk to your mom?" He asked her. She flashed him a deadly look.

"Forget it." She started to leave.

"Now wait a minute." He called after her, she spun around, her dark eyes were positively deadly. "It's not even like it's possible in the first place!" She frowned and he continued. "Also, I don't understand why you are so touchy about the mom thing! You don't even really need a mo-"

For as small as she was she could punch pretty hard. The taste of blood filled his mouth. He rubbed his jaw where she hit him. When he looked up he caught a brief sight of her face before she turned around and stormed away. He felt his heart drop when he realized there were tears in her eyes.

He hadn't been thinking. She was so frustrating, she carefully kept whatever it was she had been feeling to herself, and because of this he didn't think of how much she might have been hurting, and now he made her cry. He felt like a jerk. It was obvious that she had died recently, though how recently he didn't know. So of course an 11 year old girl would be hurting over losing her mother.

He ran off towards the direction she went, and after searching for a few moments he found her collapsed by a tree away from everything else, her face in her hands.

"Angela..." He knelt down next to her.

"Go away." She turned away from him.

"Angela- look I'm sorry." He choked out, seeing her cry was tearing him up. She removed her face from her hands and eyed him. Her tear stained face was not easy to look at. "You know," He swallowed. "I never met my mom. I don't know what happened to her, my dad never talks about it."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked. It was a fair question, he wasn't entirely sure himself. There was something about her dark eyes that was so compelling.

"Well it's obvious you don't like to talk about your mother." He started bullshitting, he realized he probably shouldn't tell her that she seemed to pull things out of him. "It's more the fact that you don't like others getting in your business, right?" At least what he was bullshitting made sense. "So if I tell you something about me, you'll return the favor."

"Why do I need to talk about it." She grumbled, and he was grateful that she bought it.

"Because you can't avoid it forever, Angel." She scowled at his use of the nickname Angel. She narrowed her eyes, what he was saying seemed to make sense to her.

"She was always trying to get me to dress up a little girlier." She almost whispered looking down at her baggy plaid shirt, worn out shorts, and muddy boots. "The day- the day she died, back in April, she was trying to get me to go shopping with her." She bit on her lip and she looked like she would start crying any minute. "But I didn't go- it was storming-" Tears were filling her eyes now. "She lost control and-"

She had buried her face in her hands again and was sobbing. He thought for a moment and decided to wrap his arms around her and after a moment of hesitation she gave in and cried into his shoulder. After a calming down some she pulled away from him.

"Thank you." She choked out.

"Don't mention it," He smiled. "That's what friends do right?"

"Oh, so we're friends now?" She smiled despite her tears.

"You cried all over my shirt, if that isn't friendship I don't know what is." He was delighted when she laughed.

"Sure," She smiled and stood up composing herself. "I should really go, I'll see you later I guess."

"Of course." he smiled watching her leave, and knew that they would be seeing a lot more of each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know I said I'd make the next chapter longer, but I was taking forever and Band Camp starts on Tuesda,y meaning I won't have as much time to work on this. So, I wanted to get one out before it starts. Anyway, I want to put out a couple of shout outs, one is for my best friend KateLovesSmosh for always editing for me, and another to crumpled horned snorkack for reviewing, following and just overall being awesome. (seriously go check out her stuff it's great). Well enjoy!**

Over time the two of them became closer and closer, and it wasn't long until they were inseparable. Many nights were spent sneaking out of their trailers just to watch the stars. Angela knew many constellations and would constantly point them out.

"See those three stars right there? That's Orion!" She pointed up, her wide smile illuminated only by the distant carnival lights.

She would get so excited pointing out the ones she could see, and there were times when he would just sit back and listen. There was nothing quite like listening to her go on about the things she loved. Sometimes it was the newest book she was reading, or her current favorite song. He had never been this close to someone before and was glad the two of them became friends.

He was having a hard time finding her today. He only had a couple shows and he thought they could skip out and go swimming. It was a hot July and he was sure she would be more than happy for a chance to cool down. He finally spotted her across the midway, she was talking to a boy of about 15 who had recently joined up with the carnival, and she had a huge grin on her face.

He hung back from them, he had never seen her with a look like that and he felt a pain in his chest that he couldn't explain.

The boy's name was Todd. Patrick hadn't had the _pleasure_ of getting to know him well, but from what he did know about him, Patrick could tell he only ever seemed to have his own best interests in mind. Now was no different, he didn't look at her like a human being that he genuinely cared for and he didn't even seem to be phased by her smile, the bastard.

He watched as Todd waved goodbye to her. She waved back in the most adorable way, why did that jackass get her cute waves? He didn't deserve her smiles and waves. She twirled her braid around her finger as he walked away. She needed to stop being this cute.

"Hey, Angela." He walked up to her. She smiled at him, not the same way she was smiling at Todd, but a smile nonetheless. "What were you talking to Todd about?"

"He wants to take me out tomorrow..." She smiled and blushed. "I've never been asked out before."

"I really don't think he's the one you want asking you out." He mumbled.

"What do you mean?" She looked at him confused.

"Look Angela, all I'm saying is that he's not exactly known for being caring." He said.

"So, just because he has a bad rep means that he can't possibly like me?" She put her hands on her hips.

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all!" Why was she getting angry with him? He was only trying to help her. "I just think you should be careful."

"Don't you think I'm capable of looking out for myself?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Angela, that- urgghh." She was so frustrating. Why couldn't she just listen to him for once.

"Maybe you're just jealous?" She crossed her arms.

"What are you talking about?! What could I possibly be jealous about?" He said quickly. Her face made him regret what he said the moment he said it. Why did he always seem to say the worst possible things to her? He could charm anyone without fail, but he looked into her dark eyes and suddenly he couldn't stop putting his foot in his mouth.

"So, no one could possibly like me, that's what you're saying." She said quietly crossing her arms.

"No!" She was so frustrating, why couldn't she just see that he was trying to help her? "Angela, that's not what I'm saying at all!"

"Right." She turned on her heel and started to leave.

"Angela!" He called after her. He grunted in frustration, he hoped for her sake that Todd wasn't as bad a guy as he thought.

Angela was hurt to say the least. Patrick was her best friend, why would her tell her that Todd couldn't like her? True he hadn't seemed to even notice her until recently, but what did that have to do with anything. No one had ever given her attention like that before, it was a wonderful feeling. Why would he try to take that away from her?

She spotted her brother, he looked extremely tired and grumpy, she laughed remembering why he was.

"Hey Danny, what's up?" She asked coming over to him.

"Go away I'm still mad at you and Patrick." He glared at her. She had to keep herself from laughing.

Yesterday, Patrick convinced Danny that the Crocodile Man that had recently joined them was really Killer Croc, and Batman was going to come get him. So Danny stayed up all night waiting for Batman. At some point during the night she almost felt bad for him and considered telling her 9-year-old brother that Batman, was in fact, not real. Instead she told him Patrick was really Robin keeping an eye on things. She wasn't proud.

"I'm sorry Danny, it was just too funny." She laughed.

"I swear to god you two are dangers to everyone around you!" He frowned at her, and she couldn't help but continue to laugh at the face he was making.

The conversation brought her back to her earlier argument with Patrick. Maybe she had been a little too quick to get angry at him. He definitely cared about her and just wanted to look out for her. Unfortunately, this was her life and he had no business getting involved in her relationships.


End file.
